Tells the fascinating story of encounters with this bird, by many explorers, including Parry, De Long, Newcombe and its discoverer James Clark Ross. Includes Ross's 40-year odyssey in search of the Gull, culminating in his solo trip to the Russian Arctic in 1990. The biology of the bird, its seasonal distribution and migration and its extra-limital occurrences are fully discussed, with up-to-date status accounts for Britain, Europe and North America.